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36-646: Belkofski ( Aleut : Taxtamax̂ ; Russian : Белкофский ) is an unincorporated community and Alaska Native Village Statistical Area (ANVSA) in the Aleutians East Borough in Alaska . It has been uninhabited since the 1980s, reporting a population of 0 in 1990, 2000 and 2010. Belkofski is on a point at the eastern end of the Alaska Peninsula , 12 miles southeast of King Cove . Russians originally invaded Aleuts at Belkofski in 1823 to harvest sea otters in

72-485: A coronal , /a/ is raised to [e] or [ɛ] , and /u/ is fronted to [ʉ] . The mid-vowels [ɔ] and [ɛ] occur only in family names like Nevzorof and very recently introduced Russian loanwords. (C)(C)V(V) ± {C(C)(C)V(V)} ± C An Aleut word may contain one to about a dozen syllables, all syllables with a vocalic nucleus. In Atkan and Attuan, there is a word-final CC due to apocopation . There also exist word initial CCC in loanwords. A word may begin or end in

108-415: A breathy voice. The preaspiration of devoiced nasals starts with a voiceless airstream through the nose and may end voiced before a vowel. The preaspiration feature is represented orthographically with an ⟨h⟩ preceding the given sound. For example, a devoiced, preaspirated labial nasal would be written ⟨hm⟩ . Voiced approximants and nasals may be partly devoiced in contact with

144-415: A much simpler consonant inventory because the voice contrasts among nasals, sibilants and approximants have been lost. Consonants listed in the dental column have varied places of articulation. The stop, nasal, and lateral dentals commonly have a laminal articulation. The voiced dental fricative is pronounced interdentally. The pronunciation of the sibilant /s/ varies from an alveolar articulation to

180-514: A period of cultural affinity with southeastern Alaska and the Pacific Northwest Coast, which may explain linguistic features that Aleut shares with neighboring non-Eskimo languages, such as rules of plural formation. Due to colonization by Russian colonizers and traders in the 18th and 19th centuries, Aleut has a large portion of Russian loanwords. However, they do not affect the basic vocabulary and thus do not suggest undue influence on

216-456: A retracted articulation like a palato-alveolar consonant. There is no contrast between / s / and ʃ in Aleut. Many Aleut speakers experience difficulties with this distinction while learning English. Aleut has a basic three-vowel system including the high front /i/ , low /a/ , and high back /u/ . Aleut vowels contrast with their long counterparts /iː/ , /aː/ , and /uː/ . Notably, Aleut /u/

252-428: A short vowel and a following stressed syllable. For example, ìláan 'from him' pronounced [-ll-] and làkáayax̂ 'a boy' pronounced [-kk-] . The following descriptions involve phonological processes that occur in connected speech. Nikolskoye, Kamchatka Krai Nikolskoye ( Russian : Нико́льское , Aleut : Никоольскиҳ , romanized:  Nikoolʹskih̦ ) is a rural locality (a selo ) and

288-474: A voiceless consonant and at the end of a word. The voiceless glottal approximant / h / functions as an initial aspiration before a vowel. In Atkan and Attuan, the prevocalic / h / aspiration contrasts with an audible but not written glottal stop initiation of the vowel. Compare halal ('to turn the head') and alal ('to need'). This contrast has been lost in Eastern Aleut. Modern Eastern Aleut has

324-430: A vowel, both short and long, with few exceptions. Due to apocopation, short /u/ is not found in the final position. The same is true for short /i/ , except in some obsolete suffixes, such as -chi 'your' (pl.) which is realized as -chin and -chix in modern Eastern and Atkan Aleut. Vowels within a word are separated by at least one consonant. All single consonants can appear in an intervocalic position, with

360-422: A wider variety of stress patterns. Stress may be attracted to another syllable by a long vowel or relatively sonorant consonant, or by a closed syllable. It is possible the stress can be determined by rhythmic factors so that one word will have different stress in different contexts, such as áĝadax̂ compared to àĝádax̂ , both meaning 'arrow'. In Atkan and Attuan Aleut, stronger stress more commonly falls on

396-534: Is coming'. There is a similar structure for polite requests: qadá 'please eat!' vs qáda 'eat'. Under ordinary strong stress, a short syllable tends to be lengthened, either by lengthening the vowel or geminating the following single consonant. Lengthening of the vowel is most common in Eastern, but is found in Atkan before a voiced consonant. In all dialects gemination is common between an initial stressed syllable with

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432-497: Is extremely rich with wildlife, the inhabitants of the island are very restricted in the use of these resources since almost the entire island is a nature preserve . In the years following the dissolution of the Soviet Union , poaching of fish, Arctic fox , reindeer (which were introduced to the island), and migratory waterfowl was widespread, but there is virtually no harvest of marine mammals due to strict protection. Nikolskoye

468-425: Is indeterminate and often difficult to define. Stress varies based on the relation to the beginning or end of the word form, the length of the vowels, the sonority of the consonants, open- or closeness of the syllables, or the number of syllables in sentential rhythm and intonation. Stress affects the length of both vowels and consonants. Stress underlies the distinctive syncopation characteristics of Eastern Aleut. In

504-422: Is pronounced slightly lower than /i/ in the vowel space. The long vowel /aː/ is pronounced retracted in the vowel space creating a significant distinction relative to the vowel length of /a/ . The two high vowels are pronounced with the same vowel quality regardless of vowel length. In contact with a uvular , /i/ is lowered to [e] , /a/ is backed to [ɑ] , and /u/ is lowered to [o] . In contact with

540-602: Is served by the Nikolskoye Airport . Like the rest of Kamchatka Krai, Nikolskoye has a subarctic climate ( Dfc ), though the ocean makes temperatures much less extreme than interior Siberia, with winters being about four degrees milder than in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky . The transition to the subpolar oceanic climate of southwest Alaska to the east is very apparent, especially in the extremely low sunshine hours, which average only around 2.8 per day due to

576-616: The administrative center of Aleutsky District of Kamchatka Krai , Russia , located on Bering Island in the Commander Islands chain. Population: 676 ( 2010 Census ) ; 808 ( 2002 Census ) ; 1,356 ( 1989 Soviet census ) . It is the only remaining inhabited locality in the district. It was founded in 1826 by Aleut (Unangan) settlers from Atka Island in the Aleutian Islands who were brought there by Russian fur traders . While engaging to some extent in

612-477: The 25th largest community in the Alaska Territory). It appeared as "Belkovsky" in 1890, as Belkofski Village in 1900, it did not report in 1910, and as Belkofski from 1920-1970, with the exception of 1940 when it was erroneously reported as "Balkofski." Beginning in 1980, it was classified as an "Alaska Native Village" and from 1990 through 2010 censuses as an Alaska Native Village Statistical Area (ANVSA), but on

648-521: The Eastern Aleutian Islands as early as 4,000 years ago, followed by a gradual expansion westward over the next 1,500 years to the Near Islands . Another westward expansion may have occurred about 1,000 years ago, which may explain the lack of obvious diversification among the Aleut dialects, with Eastern Aleut features having spread westward. This second westward expansion is characterized as

684-474: The area; at its height, it was the area's most important village. It was called "S(elo) Belkovskoe" from "belka," meaning "squirrel." In the 1880s, three stores were constructed, which were stocked with goods from San Francisco. There was a Russian Orthodox Holy Resurrection church built at that time as well. When the sea otter population diminished, so did the population. The economy switched to trapping wild game, and many of Belkofski’s inhabitants would move to

720-669: The consistent fog from the Aleutian Low and the Oyashio Current on its western flank. Extreme temperatures have ranged from −23.5 to 21.4 °C (−10.3 to 70.5 °F), with the latter occurring as recently as June 30, 1938. The first church of Nikolskoye was dedicated to Saint Nicholas and Saint Innocent of Irkutsk , the Enlightener of Siberia. It was built in 1799 by the Russian-American Company . The second building

756-557: The death of the last native speaker in 2022, it became extinct. All dialects show lexical influence from Russian ; Copper Island Aleut has also adopted many Russian inflectional endings. The largest number of Russian loanwords can be seen in the Bering Aleut. The consonant phonemes of the various Aleut dialects are represented below. Each cell indicates the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) representation of

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792-437: The dialects of Atka and Bering Island . Attuan was a distinct dialect showing influence from both Atkan and Eastern Aleut. Copper Island Aleut (also called Medny Aleut ) was a Russian-Attuan mixed language ( Copper Island ( Russian : Медный , Medny , Mednyj ) having been settled by Attuans). Despite the name, after 1969 Copper Island Aleut was spoken only on Bering Island, as Copper Islanders were evacuated there. After

828-482: The extensive syncopation characteristic of the Eastern Aleut dialect are described below. In the examples, the syncopated vowel will be shown in parentheses. A word medial short vowel may be syncopated between single consonants, except after an initial open short syllable and/or before a final open short syllable. For example, ìx̂am(a)nákux̂ 'it is good' and alqut(a)maan 'what for?'. The syncopation often creates consonant clusters beyond those prescribed by

864-429: The first syllable. However, long vowels, sonorants, etc. have similar effects on stress as in Eastern Aleut. For example, qánáang 'how many' vs qánang 'where'; ùĝálux̂ 'spear' vs álaĝux̂ 'sea'. Stress may also be expressive, as with exclamations or polite requests. Stronger stress falls on the last syllable and is accompanied by a lengthening of a short vowel. For example, kúufyax̂ àqakúx̂! 'coffee

900-528: The following discussion, the acute accent (á) indicates the stronger stress and the grave accent (à) indicates the weaker. In Eastern Aleut, stronger stress tends to fall on the penultimate syllable if it is short (has a short vowel), or on the last syllable if it is long (has a long vowel). The weaker stress commonly falls on the first syllable. For example, úlax̂ 'house', tùnúnax̂ 'talked', tùnulákan 'without talking', ìnaqáam 'he himself'. Eastern Aleut words with more than two syllables exhibit

936-497: The following exceptions: Words begin with any consonant except / θ / and preaspirated consonants (with the exception of the preaspirated / ŋ̥ / in Atkan Aleut). Only in loanwords do / v / , / z / , and the borrowed consonants ( p, b, f, d, g, ɹ / ɾ ) appear word-initially. The word-initial CC can take many forms, with various restrictions on the distribution of consonants: Intervocalic CC can occur in normal structure or as

972-537: The general rules of Aleut phonotactics. The resulting clusters include: In some frequently encountered syncopated forms, which otherwise result in irregular three consonant clusters, the middle uvular fricative is deleted along with the preceding vowel. For example, (h)iis(ax̂)talix 'saying' and (h)iil(ax̂)talix 'being said'. At slower speeds of speech, the syncopation may not be realized. Compare txin saakutikux̂txin 'you are getting skinny' beside ting saak(u)tikuqing 'I am getting skinny'. Aleut stress

1008-533: The historically Aleut-speaking regions lack any language/culture courses in their curriculum, and those that do fail to produce fluent or even proficient speakers. The Eskimo and Aleut peoples were part of a migration from Asia across Beringia , the Bering land bridge between 4,000 and 6,000 years ago. During this period, the Proto-Eskimo-Aleut language was spoken, which broke up around 2000 BC. Differentiation of

1044-589: The language. In March 2021, the last native speaker of the Bering dialect, Vera Timoshenko, died aged 93 in Nikolskoye , Bering Island , Kamchatka. Within the Eastern group are the dialects of the Alaskan Peninsula, Unalaska , Belkofski , Akutan , the Pribilof Islands , Kashega and Nikolski . The Pribilof dialect has more living speakers than any other dialect of Aleut. The Atkan grouping comprises

1080-887: The last three censuses has reported a population of zero. The area is in a maritime climate zone. Temperatures range from −13 to 78 °F (−25 to 26 °C). Average snowfall is 56 inches (1,400 mm), with an annual precipitation of 33 inches (840 mm) a year. Generally 85 feet (26 m) above sea level. 55°05′20″N 162°01′50″W  /  55.08889°N 162.03056°W  / 55.08889; -162.03056 Aleut language Various sources estimate there are fewer than 100 to 150 remaining active Aleut speakers. Because of this, Eastern and Atkan Aleut are classified as "critically endangered and extinct" and have an Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS) rating of 7. The task of revitalizing Aleut has largely been left to local government and community organizations. The overwhelming majority of schools in

1116-439: The middle consonant is either / t / , / tʃ / , / s / . For example, taxtxix̂ 'pulse', huxsx̂ilix 'to wrap up', chamchxix̂ 'short fishline'. The most common single consonants to appear word-final are / x / , / χ / , / m / , / n / , / ŋ / , and / j / . Through apocopation, word-final single consonants / l / and / s / occur, and word-final consonant clusters ending with / t / or / s / . The details of

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1152-400: The neighboring communities of Sand Point, Alaska and King Cove. The final few inhabitants vacated Belkofski for King Cove in the 1980s, bringing everything with them and establishing a new Orthodox Church. The village’s abandoned buildings reportedly burned down in 2013. Belkofski first appeared on the 1880 U.S. Census as the unincorporated village of Belkovsky with 268 residents (making it

1188-455: The phoneme; consonants existing only in loanwords are in parentheses. Some phonemes are unique to specific dialects of Aleut. The palato-alveolar affricate / tʃ / and uvular stop / q / are pronounced with strong aspiration. Attuan labial fricative / v / is pronounced voiced or devoiced. Voiceless approximants and devoiced nasals are preaspirated . The preaspiration of approximants causes very little friction and may pronounced more as

1224-533: The result of syncopation. In CC clusters of two voiced continuants, there is often a short transitional vowel. For example, qilĝix̂ 'umbilical cord' is pronounced [-l ĝ-] similar to qiliĝi-n 'brain'. Almost all possible combinations of coronal and postlingual consonants are attested. The combination of two postlingual or two coronal consonants is rare, but attested, such as hux̂xix 'rain pants', aliĝngix̂ 'wolf', asliming 'fit for me', iistalix 'to say; to tell; to call'. In CCC clusters,

1260-503: The traditional pursuits of whaling and sealing with harpoons and spears, they were primarily employed in the harvest of fur-bearing animals, notably sea otters and fur seals . Currently, the population is divided roughly evenly between Russians and Aleuts , but mixing between the two is common. The current economy is based primarily on fishing, especially the harvest of salmon caviar , mushroom gathering, and government services and subsidies. Despite living in an environment that

1296-517: The two branches is thought to have happened in Alaska because of the linguistic diversity found in the Eskimo languages of Alaska relative to the entire geographic area where Eskimo languages are spoken (eastward through Canada to Greenland). After the split between the two branches, their development is thought to have occurred in relative isolation. Evidence suggests a culture associated with Aleut speakers on

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